Sign in with Facebook
Loading...
11th out of 163 books
—
203 voters
Wolfsbane and Mistletoe (Sookie Stackhouse #8.1)
by
Charlaine Harris ,
Toni L.P. Kelner , Donna Andrews (Goodreads Author) , Simon R. Green , Dana Cameron (Goodreads Author) , Kat Richardson (Goodreads Author) , Alan Gordon , Carrie Vaughn (Goodreads Author)
,
more…
The editors of "Many Bloody Returns" deliver the perfect howl-iday gift, with new tales from Patricia Briggs, Carrie Vaughn, and many more.
"New York Times" bestselling authors Charlaine Harris, Patricia Briggs, Keri Arthur, and Carrie Vaughn—along with eleven other masters of the genre—offer all-new stories on werewolves and the holidays, a fresh variation on the concept t...more
"New York Times" bestselling authors Charlaine Harris, Patricia Briggs, Keri Arthur, and Carrie Vaughn—along with eleven other masters of the genre—offer all-new stories on werewolves and the holidays, a fresh variation on the concept t...more
Hardcover, 340 pages
Published
October 7th 2008
by Ace Hardcover
Friend Reviews
To see what your friends thought of this book,
please sign up.
Community Reviews
(showing
1-30
of
3,000)
Jan 02, 2010
Lady Danielle aka The Book Huntress
rated it
4 of 5 stars
Recommends it for:
urban fantasy and werewolf short story lovers
This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it,
click here.
25 likes · like · see review
view all 25 comments
"Wolfsbane and Mistletoe" is an anthology containing werewolf stories by 15 different authors including Keri Arthur, Patricia Briggs, Karen Chance, Simon R Green, Charlaine Harris, and Carrie Vaughn, among others. There's something for everyone here as the stories range from humorous to scary, a little spicy to plain vanilla. Each story is fairly short which makes the book easy to put down and pick back up without 'losing' anything. And finally, each story also centers around the holiday season,...more
Originally posted on Book Chick City.
As with all anthologies I have reviewed I wanted to review a large selection of the short stories to give you a good indication if this book is worth reading/buying, unfortunately with the lead up to Christmas I just haven't had the time to read much at all. So I only have two mini reviews for you. Hopefully I will review a few more from this anthology in due course.
GIFT WRAP ~ Charlaine Harris
How does Ms Harris do it? In just twenty odd pages she pulled me i...more
As with all anthologies I have reviewed I wanted to review a large selection of the short stories to give you a good indication if this book is worth reading/buying, unfortunately with the lead up to Christmas I just haven't had the time to read much at all. So I only have two mini reviews for you. Hopefully I will review a few more from this anthology in due course.
GIFT WRAP ~ Charlaine Harris
How does Ms Harris do it? In just twenty odd pages she pulled me i...more
"Gift Wrap" by Charlaine Harris starts with a depressed and lonely Sookie all alone on Christmas Eve, and quickly turns to her discovering an injured Werewolf in her woods. Of course, there is more to this Were than meets the eye. I liked this story; it was nice and humble, and Niall made an appearance as well. One note: I would love to have a great-grandfather, or any family member for that matter, give me a Christmas "gift" like Sookie got. Lucky Girl!
"The Haire of the Beast" by Donna Andrews...more
"The Haire of the Beast" by Donna Andrews...more
Jan 23, 2010
Mai
rated it
3 of 5 stars
Shelves:
anthology,
shapeshifters,
2010,
crime,
fantasy,
fey,
paranormal,
redemption,
romantic-subplot,
fantasy-urban,
vampires,
humor
Generally, the best stories in here are the ones not set in any of the worlds of the author's books and the werewolf and Christmas themes are closely tied together.
Gift Wrap by Charlaine Harris 3/5
A story about Sookie from Harris's Southern Vampires series. Sookie finds herself alone on Christmas Eve. Or so she thinks. Features the strangest Christmas gift a relative can give.
The Haire of the Beast by Donna Andrews 3/5
A college T.A.'s brother wants her to make him a spell that'll turn him into...more
Gift Wrap by Charlaine Harris 3/5
A story about Sookie from Harris's Southern Vampires series. Sookie finds herself alone on Christmas Eve. Or so she thinks. Features the strangest Christmas gift a relative can give.
The Haire of the Beast by Donna Andrews 3/5
A college T.A.'s brother wants her to make him a spell that'll turn him into...more
I read only a select few of the stories in this anthology... not trying out any new authors, only authors I currently read. :)
1. Gift Wrap by Charlaine Harris. 3 Stars. Not sure how I feel about this one... It didn't really paint Sookie or Niall in the best light. If I wasn't already a follower of the Sookie Stackhouse series, I wouldn't pick it up after reading this short story.
2. The Werewolf Before Christmas by Kat Richardson. 3 Stars. This one made me laugh out loud several times. One of my...more
1. Gift Wrap by Charlaine Harris. 3 Stars. Not sure how I feel about this one... It didn't really paint Sookie or Niall in the best light. If I wasn't already a follower of the Sookie Stackhouse series, I wouldn't pick it up after reading this short story.
2. The Werewolf Before Christmas by Kat Richardson. 3 Stars. This one made me laugh out loud several times. One of my...more
2 likes · like · see review
Most of the stories were just meh - although I really enjoyed the story by Patricia Briggs. Short stories are still just difficult for me. I find it too hard to get into the story after having just been dropped into the middle of a new world where I don't know the players or the rules to the game.
Mar 01, 2009
Rowena
added it
It doesn't seem fair to rate the entire anthology, when I've only read one story. However, I would like to share my review of JA Konrath's "S.A."
Some of us push the envelope... JA Konrath's S.A. begins with a most unhappy --but healthy-- gentleman crossing a snowy parking lot, carrying a semi-see-through, blue plastic box containing a large stool sample. In fact, it's not a sample. It's the whole enchilada.
He's taking this vigorous specimen to his doctor because there's something unusual about i...more
Some of us push the envelope... JA Konrath's S.A. begins with a most unhappy --but healthy-- gentleman crossing a snowy parking lot, carrying a semi-see-through, blue plastic box containing a large stool sample. In fact, it's not a sample. It's the whole enchilada.
He's taking this vigorous specimen to his doctor because there's something unusual about i...more
3 likes · like · see review
SPOILER ALERT!!!!
The main story I wanted to read in this book was Gift Wrapped by Charlaine Harris. Know right off the bat, I adore Sookie Stackhouse, so I am difficult to disappoint in this regard. But this story was very short and rather hollow. It lacked the punch of the short story in Bite. And Sookie always rises above feeling sorry for herself, so that was a bummer. I'm glad Quinn got a mention. She just doesn't use her brain to figure out something more is amiss than what it seems. Maybe...more
The main story I wanted to read in this book was Gift Wrapped by Charlaine Harris. Know right off the bat, I adore Sookie Stackhouse, so I am difficult to disappoint in this regard. But this story was very short and rather hollow. It lacked the punch of the short story in Bite. And Sookie always rises above feeling sorry for herself, so that was a bummer. I'm glad Quinn got a mention. She just doesn't use her brain to figure out something more is amiss than what it seems. Maybe...more
5 likes · like · see review
This is one of the better anthologies out there. I can truly say that no matter my feelings about any one of them, every single story is well-written and mostly entertaining.
My favorite stories were
The Haire of the Beast, by Donna Andrews,
Fresh Meat, by Alan Gordon, and
The Perfect Gift by Dana Stabenow.
They are all new-to-me authors (well, I've read a mystery from Dan Stabenow before, but still) and their stories were simple, interesting, and fresh perspectives of werewolf/shifter mythologie...more
My favorite stories were
The Haire of the Beast, by Donna Andrews,
Fresh Meat, by Alan Gordon, and
The Perfect Gift by Dana Stabenow.
They are all new-to-me authors (well, I've read a mystery from Dan Stabenow before, but still) and their stories were simple, interesting, and fresh perspectives of werewolf/shifter mythologie...more
Some thoughts ...
Struggled with how to rate the overall anthology because I only listened to one story - Star of David (by Patricia Briggs), which I really liked. David Christiansen is a werewolf and mercenary we first meet in Moon Called. After almost forty years of no contact, his estranged daughter, Stella, calls to request his help with a foster teen. Short (audio for the story is about 1hr 10mins) but it's intense and engrossing, and David and Stella's reunion provides good emotional weight...more
Struggled with how to rate the overall anthology because I only listened to one story - Star of David (by Patricia Briggs), which I really liked. David Christiansen is a werewolf and mercenary we first meet in Moon Called. After almost forty years of no contact, his estranged daughter, Stella, calls to request his help with a foster teen. Short (audio for the story is about 1hr 10mins) but it's intense and engrossing, and David and Stella's reunion provides good emotional weight...more
1 like · like · see review
I just read the Sookie story in this installment and I have to say that I absolutely hated it. As a huge fan of the Sookie series, I thought I would get a treat in between installments, but this is one I wish I had never read.
Sookie's a pretty "nice" girl for the most part and that's one of the things that I enjoy about her most. The present that she received from her grandfather was absolutely ridiculous and seemed to cheapen Sookie's character for me. I am going to pretend I didn't read it.
I w...more
Sookie's a pretty "nice" girl for the most part and that's one of the things that I enjoy about her most. The present that she received from her grandfather was absolutely ridiculous and seemed to cheapen Sookie's character for me. I am going to pretend I didn't read it.
I w...more
A collection of festive werewolf tales from a total of 15 authors*, only four of whom (Keri Arthur, Charlaine Harris and Kat Richardson, Carrie Vaughn) I've read.
Not normally a fan of short stories, I put this collection on my Amazon wish list as I do like the occasional werewolf story and thought it perfect for the Christmas Spirit book challenge I was participating in.
Filled with plenty of fresh takes on both werewolf and Christmas legends, Wolfsbane And Mistletoe still wouldn't be my first ch...more
Not normally a fan of short stories, I put this collection on my Amazon wish list as I do like the occasional werewolf story and thought it perfect for the Christmas Spirit book challenge I was participating in.
Filled with plenty of fresh takes on both werewolf and Christmas legends, Wolfsbane And Mistletoe still wouldn't be my first ch...more
This entire werewolf collection is great. These shorts are not all romantically driven -- some are -- but they all center around the holiday traditions -- Santa, reindeer, baking cookies, gift giving, etc.
I bought this anthology primarily for the story Star of David, cuz I love how Patricia Briggs weaves her werewolf mythos. Star of David did not disappoint. David is a battle-hardened old werewolf and a former military special ops guy. He has his own security company now.
--(Mercedes Thompson fa...more
I bought this anthology primarily for the story Star of David, cuz I love how Patricia Briggs weaves her werewolf mythos. Star of David did not disappoint. David is a battle-hardened old werewolf and a former military special ops guy. He has his own security company now.
--(Mercedes Thompson fa...more
Genre: Urban Fantasy
This was a surprisingly good anthology given how campy the concept is: Christmas plus Werewolves. Of course, given the campy concept the stories are mostly on the lighter side; but this is urban fantasy – as a genre it doesn’t do dark and depressing all that often. The four stories I found most memorable were:
My favorite story is Patricia Brigg’s “The Star of David” (which is hardly surprising, considering she’s become one of my 2 favorite authors) It features David Christens...more
This was a surprisingly good anthology given how campy the concept is: Christmas plus Werewolves. Of course, given the campy concept the stories are mostly on the lighter side; but this is urban fantasy – as a genre it doesn’t do dark and depressing all that often. The four stories I found most memorable were:
My favorite story is Patricia Brigg’s “The Star of David” (which is hardly surprising, considering she’s become one of my 2 favorite authors) It features David Christens...more
Wow - this book took me by surprise! I expected good stories, but not the depth, variety, and sheer creativity in this collection of short stories.
Let me do a quick summary of the stories:
"Gift Wrap" - Sookie Stackhouse finds a naked man in her woods on Christmas eve. It's a nice, short story with little drama and a lot of cheesiness.
"The Haire of the Beast" - A brother asks his sister to help him make a werewolf potion. Things go a little awry. I actually laughed out loud reading this one.
"Luc...more
Let me do a quick summary of the stories:
"Gift Wrap" - Sookie Stackhouse finds a naked man in her woods on Christmas eve. It's a nice, short story with little drama and a lot of cheesiness.
"The Haire of the Beast" - A brother asks his sister to help him make a werewolf potion. Things go a little awry. I actually laughed out loud reading this one.
"Luc...more
“Wolfsbane and Mistletoe,” is a holiday feast of 15 short stories filled with werewolves, shapeshifters, vampires and oodles of romance! I’d like to give you mini-reviews for all 15, but that could take all day and I have some after-Christmas shopping to do! Here’s a taste of three of my favorites.
For the funny bone
“S.A.” by JA Konrath
When Robert Westin Smith attends his first Shapeshifters Anonymous meeting, he discovers Santa has a dark side – close ties with Satan to be exact. The not-so-jo...more
For the funny bone
“S.A.” by JA Konrath
When Robert Westin Smith attends his first Shapeshifters Anonymous meeting, he discovers Santa has a dark side – close ties with Satan to be exact. The not-so-jo...more
Review Courtesy of AllThingsUrbanFantasy.blogspot.com
Review: "Gift Wrap" by Charlaine Harris occurs chronically after From Dead To Worse (book 8) in the Sookie Stackhouse Series and you might want to save this story for later if you plan on reading the Sookie series and aren’t caught up as there are a number of spoilers (but of course my reviews are always spoiler free). Sookie is an odd character. I remember wondering if she was mentally challenged when I started the first Sookie book because s...more
Review: "Gift Wrap" by Charlaine Harris occurs chronically after From Dead To Worse (book 8) in the Sookie Stackhouse Series and you might want to save this story for later if you plan on reading the Sookie series and aren’t caught up as there are a number of spoilers (but of course my reviews are always spoiler free). Sookie is an odd character. I remember wondering if she was mentally challenged when I started the first Sookie book because s...more
Although I'm not a huge fan of werewolves, or of short stories--especially about Christmas, I wanted to read this book because I like Charlaine Harris and Donna Andrews. It surprised me just how much sheer variety the various submissions included on this theme.
3 likes · like · see review
Nothing says, "Hey it's the holiday's cheer up like acollection of wedding and christmassy stories around the holidays to remind you that your knocking onfourty's door and unmarried." Maybe I should have thought about that before I picked up the copies at the library for my mom to read. Too late now it's said, did, and done. Though it explaines why her review are so short!
Goodreads Synopsis:
Werewolves, vampires, witches, voodoo, Elvis---and weddings
An "ordinary" wedding can get crazy enough,...more
Aug 15, 2011
♥ Ashleigh ♥ contrary to popular belief im not actually mad!
rated it
3 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Wolfsbane and Mistletoe is a collection of short storys based on werewolves and Christmas.
POSSIBLE SPOILERS!!
Gift Wrap by Charlaine Harris, pages 1-18
gift wrap is a Sookie Stackhouse short story, its about sookie being lonely on Christmas and finding a injured werewolf.
the story was a bit weird at the end, i was a bit creeped out by her grandfathers "gift". lol
The Haire of the Beast by Donna Andrews, pages 19-26
the haire of the beast is about girl who's brother wants to be a werewolf.
this story...more
POSSIBLE SPOILERS!!
Gift Wrap by Charlaine Harris, pages 1-18
gift wrap is a Sookie Stackhouse short story, its about sookie being lonely on Christmas and finding a injured werewolf.
the story was a bit weird at the end, i was a bit creeped out by her grandfathers "gift". lol
The Haire of the Beast by Donna Andrews, pages 19-26
the haire of the beast is about girl who's brother wants to be a werewolf.
this story...more
2 likes · like · see review
An anthology of Christmas-y werewolf tales by some of today's bestselling authors. Like all anthologies you have a mixture of good, bad, bleh and meh. The book started off with a few bad and meh stories. But luckily, as you get deeper into the book there is much more awesome awaiting you. I won’t bore you by going into each of the 15 stories, so I’ll cut to the good stuff.
There were quite a few good stories in this book, such as The Star of David by Patricia Briggs which was a nice action-packed...more
There were quite a few good stories in this book, such as The Star of David by Patricia Briggs which was a nice action-packed...more
It's about time someone did an urban fantasy Christmas anthology and this crew did it right. We've got fifteen stories ranging from tense to side splitting funny that are primarily about werewolves at Christmas.
What I love about this fifteen-story anthology is that it's a mix of my old favorite authors: Charlaine Harris, Patricia Briggs, Kat Richardson, Carrie Vaughn with an addition of some folks new to me.
My favorites:
"Keeping Watch Over His Flock" by Toni Kelner -- this one explores werewo...more
What I love about this fifteen-story anthology is that it's a mix of my old favorite authors: Charlaine Harris, Patricia Briggs, Kat Richardson, Carrie Vaughn with an addition of some folks new to me.
My favorites:
"Keeping Watch Over His Flock" by Toni Kelner -- this one explores werewo...more
Feb 16, 2013
Anna
rated it
4 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
paranormal,
other-adult
I got this to in order to read the shorts listed below. I'm not usually a fan of anthologies but this was fun. All the stories were strongly linked by a Christmas and werewolf theme, but each of the authors explored the ideas in different ways. Most of these writers are horror rather than UF and there are no PNR stories here though Kerri Arthur and Charlaine Harris are close. Even though I am not really a horror reader I was entertained. The 15 shorts in this anthology are quite light-hearted &...more
Dec 25, 2008
Jean Tatro
rated it
3 of 5 stars
Recommends it for:
werewolf fans
Shelves:
urban-fantasy,
anthology
The list of authors read like a 'who's who' of the current Urban Fantasy scene, which is part of why I picked it up - because it contains stories from several of my favorite authors. I was pleased to find a decent variety of stories considering the theme was sort of limiting.
I'm not a fan of the Sookie books, I haven't even read them, so Gift Wrap was hard for me to get into. I ended up eyerolling at several parts, and the end makes a certain character come off as really creepy instead of sweet...more
I'm not a fan of the Sookie books, I haven't even read them, so Gift Wrap was hard for me to get into. I ended up eyerolling at several parts, and the end makes a certain character come off as really creepy instead of sweet...more
Dec 29, 2011
Ellie
rated it
4 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
short-stories,
urban-fantasy
I'm not usually a fan of these short story compilations but quite liked the idea of a werewolf themed festive read. Wolfsbane and Mistletoe contains 15 stories by fantasy authors that you may or may not know. The Werewolf Before Christmas by Kat Richardson was probably the best festive story, where a werewolf finds out that he's eaten Rudolph. Also good reads are the ones with alternate Santa myths however many of the stories just happened to be set around the holidays and could be read any time...more
LOVED this collection of short stories, and in fact, there was only 1 that I didn't really care for - and that's the first one. But don't judge the rest of the book by that one because the rest are amazing. I highly recommend Wolfsbane and Mistletoe to werewolf fan.
Gift Wrap, Charlaine Harris. I thought this story was kind of pointless. Sookie Stackhouse is all alone for Christmas, and on Christmas Eve she comes across a hurt werewolf in the woods behind her house. He's half naked, hurt ... but...more
feel that i must point this out - this book is -only- Wolfsbane and Mistletoe. is 405 pages in length and does not contain Many Bloody Returns or Deaths Excellent Vacations as advertised everywhere. (the book is sitting in front of me, i have checked the ISBN everywhere and the information here is what every retailer has up as well....but its wrong!
that said, im 3 stories in and loving it. werewolves and christmas = giddy me :)
that said, im 3 stories in and loving it. werewolves and christmas = giddy me :)
1 like · like · see review
Jan 24, 2011
Kelly
marked it as dnf
This one didn't grab me much. The Harris story is not up to her usual standard. It seems really out-of-character for Sookie at first, but it's kind of cute, so I was willing to go with it. Then there's a plot twist at the end that somewhat fixes the characterization issue--at the cost of ruining everything else about the story. It had been heartwarming; it becomes kind of cold and creepy.
I really liked Simon R. Green's "Lucy, at Christmastime." It's short, sad, and chilling. I wish more antholog...more
I really liked Simon R. Green's "Lucy, at Christmastime." It's short, sad, and chilling. I wish more antholog...more
Wolfsbane and Mistletoe was an enjoyable anthology of werewolf tales set around a Christmas theme. While that theme sounds rather focused, there was great variety in the stories, and the authors delved into a surprising number of sub-genres. While I count that as a plus, it's probably also a negative for readers more specifically drawn to just romance, or comedy, or horror. I would rate the collection at about 3.5, because there were several stories that, while not that bad, just didn't seem dev...more
| topics | posts | views | last activity | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Karen Chance Fans: Rogue Elements (Lia de Croissets #1) | 45 | 198 | May 18, 2013 06:11am | |
| The Gauntlet By Karen Chance Available In New Mammoth Book Of Paranormal Romance | 1 | 5 | Oct 04, 2010 11:28pm | |
| A Cyber Launch Party For Karen Chance's New Release DEATH'S MISTRESS | 1 | 6 | Jan 06, 2010 08:51am |
Charlaine Harris has been a published novelist for over twenty-five years. A native of the Mississippi Delta, she grew up in the middle of a cotton field. Now she lives in southern Arkansas with her husband, her three children, three dogs, and a duck. The duck stays outside.
Though her early output consisted largely of ghost stories, by the time she hit college (Rhodes, in Memphis) Charlaine was wr...more
More about Charlaine Harris...
Though her early output consisted largely of ghost stories, by the time she hit college (Rhodes, in Memphis) Charlaine was wr...more
Share This Book
No trivia or quizzes yet. Add some now »
“While the modern Bible is missing many of its original passages, the Book of Bob isn’t one of them. You’re probably getting it confused with the lost Book of Fred.”
—
2 people liked it
“He has also worked as a shop assistant, bicycle-repair mechanic, journalist, actor, eccentric dancer, and mail-order bride. He has never worked for MI5. Don’t believe anyone who tel s you otherwise. He is, however, secretly Superman.”
—
2 people liked it
More quotes…
